A Battle of Houston

MARIETTA,
Ga. – The Houston Banditos 15u Black is now the last team standing.
Well, the last Houston team standing.
The
Banditos defeated the Houston Hurricanes on Thursday 4-1, allowing
them to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Solid
work in the field and on the mound won this game. The Banditos didn't
commit an error in the field, and between pitchers Conner Capel and
Blake Helmer, they managed to only let the Hurricanes score once.
“Our
pitching coach is doing a phenomenal job with this pitching staff,”
said Banditos Head Coach Robert Deleon. “He’s mixing and matching
with the pitchers and he’s piecing it together well, and that’s
the only way to do it with our pitching staff. We don’t have any
great arms, but we have kids who throw strikes.”
Capel
pitched the first five innings of the game. He managed to give up
only two hits, no runs and struck out seven.
“(Capel
is) a phenomenal player. He had only thrown five innings all year,
but we know that if he throws strikes, he’s a very tough pitcher to
beat,” explained Deleon. “He did a great job today. He
established his fastball early and he had a great off-speed pitch.”
Ryan
Bertelsman went 2-for-4 and led the team in RBI with two. Dylan
Bohnert went 2-for-3 with two singles. The Banditos were able to get
on base a lot and managed to steal seven bases.
“We
run the bases well (and) we’ve got a lot of speed,” continued
Deleon. “We have to manufacture runs (because) we’re not the team
that’s going to go out there and hit home runs. We get runners
over, and we get them in. That’s been our forte all year.”
Because
both teams came from Houston, this game meant a little more than just
advancing to the next round.
“They
were up for us (and) we were up for them. It was a battle of
Houston,” explained Deleon. “Of course we wanted to be the last
Houston team standing.”
The
pressure builds for the Banditos as they advance further in this
tournament.
“We
came with a small roster, with 12 players,” Deleon added. “Right
now we’re just scratching and crawling for every run, every pitch,
and every play to make.
“We
have to do the little things to take the pressure off of them. But
I’m very proud of my boys, they’re playing hard,” said Deleon,
“I think the deeper you go in any tournament the pressure is going
to be on.”
Although
they are still young, Deleon says that his kids are getting interest
from many different schools.
“In
order to get interest from schools they have to come out here and
perform in these Perfect Game events,” explained Deleon. “That’s
why I think our program is one of the top in the country. Our players
come out here and they perform in front of recruiters and scouts.”